Archive for September, 2015

Romania confirm VAT cut timeline

There has been lots of changes with regards to how much the VAT cut would be for Romania and when the implementation would take place, suggested cuts have switched between 4% and 5% over the last year with debates seen for both cuts. However within the last few weeks the Romanian Government has announced that in 2016 the VAT rate will drop by 4% to 20% and then in 2017 it will fall a further 1% to 19%. The parties agreed on this after concerns were raised over the viability of such a big VAT cut, and it was felt best to lower it in stages after the IMF was opposed to a one stage 5% cut.

UAE in talks to introduce VAT

Recently the federal Government of the UAE has announced the planned introduction of a federal value-added tax (VAT). The Ministry of Finance (MoF) confirmed that it has been conducting studies into the implementation of a VAT draft along with the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

The draft law is still pending and under negotiation due to the absence of a final agreement between GCC countries on the tax rate and a list of tax exemptions, but a draft bill could be on the cards very soon. Once a draft has been created an announcement will be made immediately and the country will be given 18months grace period after the implementation to implement the VAT, if it were to go ahead. The VAT is expected to be implemented at a low rate of around 5%.

This blog should affect every single entity using Oracle in the EU but as we usually find, the majority of tax configuration for Oracle R12 has been badly done by the various integration partners and the EU reporting functionality completely missed and nowhere to be seen! Oracle have provided an excellent solution with the European Tax Reporting Ledger but it is often completely missed. But for those of you who have set your solution up correctly, you will often be frustrated by how long the EMEA VAT: Selection Process takes to run and for some large companies we have done work for, the times can be more than 24 hours! Something completely unacceptable for busy tax departments.

Possible VAT cut in Israel

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has recently announced plans to reduce the current rate of VAT from 18% to 17% to help promote economic growth, following a higher than expected tax collection in recent months. Speaking earlier this month, Prime Minister Netanyahu is quoted as saying “An economy burdened by high taxes doesn’t grow, so in order to encourage growth I have decided, with Finance Minister Kahlon, to cut taxes.” Continue Reading